“This proves that the current US administration encouraged settlement activities,” he said.

Israel razes West Bank home, accused of collective punishment (02:28)

Since capturing the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, Israel has settled about 700,000 of its citizens in the two areas, which are considered occupied territory under international law.

The international community has objected to Israel’s moving people into settlements in those territories as both illegal and a deliberate obstacle to any future Palestinian state.

The Palestinians, who claim both the West Bank and east Jerusalem as parts of their future state, consider the settlements illegal land grabs.

Scores of fast-growing settlements control strategic hilltops and swaths of the West Bank, making it increasingly difficult to partition the territory.

For decades, the international community and the US have expressed concern over the settlements while doing little to halt their construction.

But since taking office, Trump, whose inner circle of Middle East advisers have longstanding ties to the settler movement, has taken a different approach.

The White House has urged restraint, but refrained from the blanket condemnations of its Republican and Democratic predecessors.

“The Trump administration is undoubtedly the most friendly American administration of all time,” said Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settlers’ council.

“In contrast, the [former US president Barack] Obama years were extremely hard for Israel. Now we are making up for lost ground.”

Near future

In recent months, both Peace Now and settler advocates have released reports claiming that Trump’s policies have laid the groundwork for a settlement boom in the near future.

In a statement, the US Embassy in Jerusalem repeated the White House policy.